What we've been up to!

After months of constant work, we developed a draft of the demo and several sections of the game. We wanted to first focus on the flow and gameplay and sketch everything out to the finest detail so we knew exactly how everything connected together. They are very drafty concepts yet are crucial steps for designing the game. So, to share with you what we were up to we polished some of the small parts to show you in gifs in the last couple of days.

Yes, this is 3D. With 2D we hit some crucial walls with the concepts we were trying to pursuit. We were first able to overcome them with interesting ideas on the camera perspective and the way the world laid out itself. However, at the end, the way we wanted to communicate this world to the player felt only possible in 3D. This did mean that the tools and all our past work would have had to be redesigned but the amount of freedom we now have in 3D and the impact we can carry through that made the switch the best possible choice.

Of course, that would now mean that what the Kickstarter promised is now drastic to what we are delivering however with this we can create an even better version of Kologeon that we all fell in love with.

Our focus shifted to an experience that would be impactful and question how interactions could deliver emotions and content in a unique way. We want to explore the boundaries and the limits on the way gameplay as a dynamic can elicit intricate emotional responses.

You completely changed what was promised and now almost 4 months without any communication.

You just take the money but reject any of the responsibilites of having a job.
Kickstarter itself should be worried about Projects like this since it's made me lose trust not only in this developer, but the concept as a whole.

I already sent this to ChillCrow, but I feel it needs to be shared with EVERYONE, so fan outrage is properly understood.

"You conned me and countless other backers, and for that reason alone, I wish you failure. If I were to wish you anything else, I would be condoning your con, your lies. So yeah, I wish you all sorts of deserved, no-holds-barred press beatings, Molyneux levels of finger pointing, and I will sure as hell do my best to never send a single cent of my money your way ever again. Not because I hate you: but because if what you did is allowed to become normalized, crowdfunding culture will have failed and trust will have further eroded."

This isn't just bad for the people who back this project. This is an attack on crowdfunding culture as a whole. This isn't the game I backed, and no one should be able to get away with a con like this.

I've seen a lot of negativity cropping up about this new direction, so I thought I'd try and throw my two cents into the mix to balance that out. I'll fully admit I funded Kologeon as much as I did because of the beautiful pixel-art look advertised to begin with. This new look is, admittedly, becoming a tad generic, with games like Furi and Bound working with the same pseudo-cel-shading amorphous warm-colours full-of-bloom visual style. But I'll definitely say I can still see your vision in here. If you can make the animations as visually crunchy and cathartic as the previous build seemed to promise, I'll say this change is purely skin-deep.

The fear with changes like this is that the vision and impression backers got in their minds no longer fits what we're looking at here. If the other art style wasn't lending itself to what y'all wanted to create then I can't blame you for the change, though, and I think everyone doubting this new direction needs to bear in mind that it was never -their- vision being funded, but that of the developers. Given how quickly you've turned out a product that looks, frankly, stunning, in a completely new engine, I certainly can't doubt your work ethic and passion toward the project. My hope is that you can all stay the course and create what you really wanted to with this, and hopefully we'll all see the merits of the style change from there.

you promise us a 2d game with a great style, a good main character design, an awesome fighting system, etc..... but now from my point of view you are laughing on our faces after we put our trust in you, to tell you the truth I like a bit what you have shown us now, the environments looks great but I don't like the new MC design, looks more like as some kind of enemy you find in most of the levels. I'm disappointed with you ChillCrow, I hope I don't regret this guys

Very disappointing update, after having waited months. Not impressed with what I'm seeing, either. You should have at least posted images that show similar scenes to what you originally pitched, with combat being most important, because pulling off speedy combat like that is so much more difficult to get right in 3D. Instead you show us.... I frankly have no idea what I'm even looking at.

As much as I don't so much mind the push to 3D, as 3D games have the potential to create an even more immersive experience, this is not the game I backed, and to leave us in the dark for months and then reappear with what seems like an entirely different game comes off as really shady.

Remember how exciting the final push to reach the goal was? Remember how many of us drastically bumped up our backing pledges just to make it happen? Because we all really wanted to see this cool, dark, stylish 2D hack 'n slash game become a reality? Yeah, that was fun wasn't it. It's also the last time it's ever going to happen where I'm involved.

As a matter of fact this is the last thing I'm ever going to support on Kickstarter, period. I'm done. I've finally realized that this kind of BS is the rule, not the exception. Thanks for helping me come to this realization, ChillCrow.

I just remembered that I had supported the creation of a game in kickstarter and I was disappointed to see that of that project there is nothing left but the title.
I read the reviews. And I'm sorry to agree. It was my daughter who induced me to support that game. Now I just hope he does not remember it anymore and do not ask about him.
This is not the game that aroused in her the courage to ask me to support them. A pity, sincerely.
I only hope that what they are doing satisfies them enough to risk such change.

This is probably falling on deaf ears, but you just made a horrible decision. No one will trust you again, you cultivated an audience who wanted one thing, took their money, and then gave something else. You don't see it now but this is very short sighted.
If there's any chance of it going back to the game we kickstarted, that would be amazing. If not, then this better be good enough to outpace the disappointment people are going to have.

Er...what?
So the interesting 2d hack n slash I kickstarted is no longer being made and this weak sauce 3d mess is it's replacement?

(sigh) I've had a pretty good run on KS - everything I've backed has been made or is still being made - and only one of them has been a proper disappointment. So I suppose it was only a matter of time before I got ripped off.

I know I won't get a refund (you won't be getting a publisher for what your showing here, and I don't mean for that laughably bad attempt at an "art style" - I'm talking about the contempt you've shown those who actually believed in you and the inability to finish what you agreed to) so I'll wish you good luck in your future endeavors and move on.

Superbacker

Yeah... I don't really care a whole lot about this, but some people definitely will. I am disappointed, but not a ton. The new game looks nice, but switching it seems like a very bad idea. It also is something that some other people have done, and I've never seen it turn out well. People mentioned Mighty No. 9 elsewhere in the comments because that's the best similar example. People flipped out, demanded refunds, etc. because they changed the game's style from 2D to 3D. They did this without asking backers if the backers thought it was a good idea, an acceptable change, etc.

You're already risking alienating a large portion of your backers. Many of those backers are likely to review your game poorly. Those poor reviews will lead to low sales numbers, which will of course hurt you.

The new polygons and the lighting are pretty cool. However, you're now developing a product that has very little in common with the one you pitched to your investors and subsequently got funding for; that's borderline fraud, and also super uncool. But I wish you the best of luck in finding a publisher.

Hmm, while I do understand that game developement can be tricky, and sometimes you need the strength to let go of the work you've already done to make the game better, the change is concerning.

For context, I've been spoiled by bundle sites, and rarely spend much money on any particular game, AAA or otherwise, so you did a good job to convince me to part with my money.

Like others here, I watched the original trailer and thought, "I want this game to exist". But now it looks like the game I funded isn't going to happen. Whether this other game turns out well or not, I may have to seek a refund simply out of principle.

Superbacker

The 3D looks good, it's beautiful and stylized with gorgeous overwhelming lighting, but I honestly backed this project to support the pixel artwork. :\ I didn't even have any intention to play the game at all pretty much, I just loved those beautiful pixels and animations that were on display and wanted to support the artists. So this is definitely a blow to me and daresay gives me Mighty Number Nine flashbacks. I'd withdraw my payment if I could even, since the pixel artwork is now nonexistent. :<

Chillcrow, let me explain, in a manner you will understand, exactly what you've done here.

First some backstory. Kickstarter is, in essence, a place where Backers go to purchase the idea of a game. The beginning visuals are not "prototypes" of that game, they are a promise to the Backers that the game will look like this, and not look like an entirely different visual style.

It does not matter that the game might be better in 3d. Your Backers have paid you, the developers, to create a specific game, that you advertised in 2d. They have in essence, pre-purchased the 2d Kologeon.

Changing the visual style of Kologeon isn't "innovation" or "improvement". Its Thievery. Period. In the changing of Kologeon's style you have, in effect, stolen from those who played you for a 2d Kologeon.

Let me make a clear example to what you've done here. Have you heard of "Shovel Knight"? Great game, developed by an indie team and Kickstarted. Lets say that, after months of silence from the Devs, they then, completely out of the blue, with no prior warning, and little concrete reason, said "we've changed the game from 2d pixel art of 3d, the camera is now overhead rather than mirroring old genesis games, and we've changed the main characters name to "sword Knight". We've done these changes because of no real concrete reason, beyond we thing it will give more opportunities to the game. We won't give any examples of the reasons for this change, or the future opportunities we foresee, because reasons."

That is what you've done.

Or, to make an even more apt comparison. "A team of pharmaceutical specialists approach a company for funding to produce a new type of Windex. The company funds them, the specialists fail to update the company on their progress for months, and suddenly declare that they have instead developed a vaccine." It doesn't matter if the vaccine if extremely profitable, it simply wasn't what they were hired do.

In laymans terms. Kickstarter backing represents a contract, one that the developer is obliged to deliver on. With these changes you have abandoned that contract, and thus pissed of practically everyone.

There is really no way to fix that, beyond releasing a 2d version of Kologeon before you release the 3d version. But right here, right now, your actions look unbelievably scummy. The fact that you haven't changed the ability to pre-order the 2d Kologeon only supports the idea that you did these changes with little warning and little communication on purpose. I'm not saying you did, merely that it looks lie it.

You've got a lot of work ahead of you if you want to keep us Backers happy, and if you want to make up for the mistakes you've made.

You get rid of the fast pace action
The combat system, I was looking forward to that

So I hope this game is amazing. I really do.
Because, you guys really screwed yourselves over. Betrayed everyones trust.
I'm still hoping and believing, but unless you come through with the rewards, and the game itself...

You just change everything that people paid for. The fact that you are doing a demo to look for a publisher and not for the backers doesn’t help. If you post the demo maybe I will change my mi mind. If not I want my money back.

I would also like to communicate my disappointment. I loved the initial 2D concept and I would not buy the 3D Version according to the images you have provided in this update. It seems vastly different from what you were collecting money for.

I have to admit, while I do feel that the new art style is both beautiful and very much inspired by the pixel art visuals, it is also most definitely not pixel art.

Lets be honest, the front page of your Kickstarter is now a lie. The game will not look like that, and you need to make that very clear. Otherwise, no one in the Kickstarter sphere will ever trust you again. They'll call you liar's, and say that you stole their money. And as the game is now, without the front page updated, with such massive changes, they would be right.

The other things is how updated you've kept us. That is, you haven't, at all. With the recent flop of mighty number 9, people are more and more concerned about the future of Kickstarter.

Do not be a part of that. Keep us informed of these types of things. Give us weekly, heck monthly updates would be fine, but weekly would be better. Even if its raw ideas, development notes, an update of what was done that week, TELL US WHAT YOUR DOING!

See all these disappointed backers? They would be far less despondent if you explained exactly why you made this shift, if you'd shared your plans for Kologeon with us, if you'd kept us up to date.

And even then, your skirting Kickstarter laws in the process of this update. The game now only vaguely resembles its initial look. This is not the game that most backers her paid for.

Your going to see flak for that. Some of it rightly deserved. I personally am sad that we will not see a full 2d Kologeon produced. Even if the 3d lives up to your promises.

Some thing you could do to soothe the inevitable backlash for this decision are...

1. Release a 2d version at a later date, as a side project or as an offshoot of the main game, or as an Easter egg, or even only developed for an hour or two experience rather than longer, and release it to backers.

2. UPDATE YOUR FRONT PAGE! I do not want to see fresh backers pre-order the game, and then read the dev logs and realize what they're getting is not what they paid for; that is guaranteed the fastest way to earn bad publicity.

3. Give us more content. More gifs, more pictures, more ideas, more detailed concepts of what the team wants to create, ANYTHING! This months long silence cannot continue, not while keeping those still interested around. Give us MORE. Heck, set up an easier dev log somewhere else if you need to, just make sure that we have frequent updates on what your doing and why your doing it.

4. Release a demo. Or videos, or both. Of the new game, so we can be assured that gameplay hasn't been completely revamped. Your posts on the subject scream "AAA vagueness bullshit" from every pore. Elaborate if you don't want to sound like your lying. Give us examples of how the 3d art style will be used, instead of going for these vague, cheap sounding metaphors that we, as gamers, have been taught by the industry mean nothing.

5. Borrow communication ideas from other Kickstarters. I would recommend "Hollow Knight" and "Rain World" as good examples of how to handle developer communication. Either have a constantly updated devlog, or give large, purposeful, no bullshit monthly updates.

6. Don't sugar coat anything. Because that's what it feels you've given us. "Oh, we're going to make the game even better, just you wait!" Alright, fine, I'll but that. How? In what way? Talk to us! Tell us why you made these decisions, and then give actual, applicable examples to why the changes have been made. I'm more pissed of that you didn't really say anything in that post than about the changes to the art style!

7. Tell us if the gameplay has changed, for pities sake, TELL US! For that matter give us clips so we can see for ourselves, that would be far better.

8. Explanations of game decisions are the lifeblood of the community. If you aren't willing to make them, then we aren't willing to listen. Simple as that.

9. And most of all, do this FAST, before people have a chance to get caught in a rage and purge Kologeon from their minds.

Gotta say I'm severely disappointed with this new direction you've chosen. What you've shown from the new version is stylish, but it is not what we were pitched and not the game we chose to support. The decision to take your backers' money and begin work on completely revamping and drastically altering the vision we all supported is honestly baffling to me. This is not the same game. I have no idea how you go about pitching one thing and then begin working on a completely different product. What you originally showed was what I wanted to support. This new version is certain to be more complicated and require more time, money, and resources to complete, which is why I assume you're looking for a publisher now. This was the first project I ever decided to back on kickstarter because I believe in the value of high-level pixel art and I loved your analog animation style, but now you've abandoned that completely. With this kind of thing happening so often with games that are supported here, I will never back a game like this again. It's clear to me now that in the conceptual stage, games just aren't ready to be pitched to the public. If I could cancel my pledge I would, and simply wait for your new vision to be traditionally funded and developed before deciding whether or not I'm interested in playing it.

"We want to explore the boundaries and the limits on the way gameplay as a dynamic can elicit intricate emotional responses. "

This is really suspect guys. You build the game you want, but you've strayed very far afield from what's on your Kickstarter page, and what got people to pledge.

There's really no indication that the fast paced gameplay of the 2d gifs has made it over to 3d yet, which leaves us with only a couple conclusions to draw:

- you weren't actually that far in development, and the gifs are detailed concept animations, not recordings of gameplay

- you threw away a lot of existing systems to make this transition, which honestly seems a pretty dangerous thing to do if you like finishing projects

If you're going to engage in the community, you're better off being more upfront about what you're actually planning to do, and what's actually going on with the project. Backers are who can get word of mouth out about your project when it goes live on Steam or whatever, but if you burn that bridge you're back at square one.

i have to agree with the others here. transparency is incredibly important in a kickstarter, and going for months without updates, no matter how constantly you're working, is unacceptable when you have people who have contributed this much money to fund your game.

in addition, though the 3d looks nice, it's a far cry from the pixel art you started the campaign with. i backed this game for the art, and i'm incredibly disappointed that there was no further warning to this massive change.

all this is to say that i wish you the best of luck finishing this game, but you should take this opportunity to listen to what people are saying and learn from the lack of communication you've initiated.

Honestly, until I see some gameplay that resembles what was shown on the Kickstarter, I'm not really convinced. I understand that the change from 2d to 3d would mean having to remake all your assets again etc, but if your Kickstarter showed what was in this post instead of what was actually proposed, I wouldn't be here as a backer. I backed because the combat looked awesome, I'm not seeing anything here. I'll reserve my judgement until I do.

Certainly a drastic change. A gorgeous 2D art from the initial pitch was one of the main reasons why I decided to back this project. I wouldn't make any judgments until I see a full game, and hopefully that will convince me with how the change of the platform was necessary to convey the creator's intentions.

I now regret backing this game. The 2d art was the main draw, but it was also the prospect that it could run on low end computers. Now, I highly doubt this game will even run on my toaster oven of a computer. Even if this game is made, it's not what was initially promised.

Disappointing, the 2D art-style was the main draw of the game for me.
The new character design seems intriguing though. I hope the game will still preserve the fast-paced action we saw in the initial trailer.

Superbacker

I backed this because I was a huge fan of the art style in a 2D world. Now I'm a little concerned that the game is completely different from what I wanted... I guess I can't really complain until I play the finished product but it is still pretty disappointing..

Good to have an update on the current status of things. I was beginning to worry that development had stopped completely.

I am kinda disappointed that the game has changed so much. Not only are we losing the beautiful pixel art, but it seems that you have changed the player's avatar completely. While I do like the look of the character and the world, unfortunately what you have shown is not enough to fill me with the confidence that this will be a decent replacement.

Will the game still be a fast-paced combat game? What from the original pitch will be in this build? These are just some of the questions that I feel need to be addressed if you are to satisfy the concerns of the backers.

When last year we saw the results of the Mighty Number 9 kickstarter campaign, it made people less trustworthy of supporting any new campaigns. You all are going to need to start having more communication with the backers and prove that this change is worth it. Otherwise you might be the next Comcept.

And please, please, please continue sharing concept art. If possible, save and organize throw-away concepts to show. The process is tedious and tiring, which makes the evidence of it all the more valuable.

I'm sure the decision was difficult, especially since the game was initially introduced in 2D. These changes are controversial and often become points of ridicule between crowdfunding backers, especially on hosting sites like Kickstarter. Best of luck, my support holds.